IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/jafrec/v21y2012i4p580-608.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing the Returns to Education in The Gambia-super- †

Author

Listed:
  • Jeremy D. Foltz
  • Ousman Gajigo

Abstract

Using three nationally representative surveys from the country, we estimate the private rates of returns to education in The Gambia. To obtain consistent estimates, we exploit exogenous variation in school availability in the country at the district level at the time current wage earners were born. Our results show that the private rates of returns to education are quite high, although heterogeneous across regions of the country. The high rates of returns are robust to alternate formulations. Copyright 2012 , Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeremy D. Foltz & Ousman Gajigo, 2012. "Assessing the Returns to Education in The Gambia-super- †," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 21(4), pages 580-608, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jafrec:v:21:y:2012:i:4:p:580-608
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jae/ejs003
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Angus Deaton, 2010. "Instruments, Randomization, and Learning about Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(2), pages 424-455, June.
    2. Jean-Paul Chavas & Ragan Petrie & Michael Roth, 2005. "Farm Household Production Efficiency: Evidence from The Gambia," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 87(1), pages 160-179.
    3. Siphambe, Happy Kufigwa, 2000. "Rates of return to education in Botswana," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 291-300, June.
    4. Alan B. Krueger & Mikael Lindahl, 2000. "Education for Growth: Why and For Whom?," Working Papers 808, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    5. T. Paul Schultz, 2004. "Evidence of Returns to Schooling in Africa from Household Surveys: Monitoring and Restructuring the Market for Education," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 13(02), pages 95-148, December.
    6. Glewwe, Paul, 1996. "The relevance of standard estimates of rates of return to schooling for education policy: A critical assessment," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 267-290, December.
    7. Uwaifo Oyelere, Ruth, 2010. "Africa's education enigma? The Nigerian story," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 128-139, January.
    8. Psacharopoulos, George, 1994. "Returns to investment in education: A global update," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 22(9), pages 1325-1343, September.
    9. Card, David, 2001. "Estimating the Return to Schooling: Progress on Some Persistent Econometric Problems," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 69(5), pages 1127-1160, September.
    10. Suresh de Mel & David McKenzie & Christopher Woodruff, 2009. "Are Women More Credit Constrained? Experimental Evidence on Gender and Microenterprise Returns," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(3), pages 1-32, July.
    11. Michael Lokshin, 2006. "Difference-based semiparametric estimation of partial linear regression models," Stata Journal, StataCorp LLC, vol. 6(3), pages 377-383, September.
    12. Mikael Lindahl & Alan B. Krueger, 2001. "Education for Growth: Why and for Whom?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(4), pages 1101-1136, December.
    13. Kazianga, Harounan, 2004. "Schooling Returns for Wage Earners in Burkina Faso: Evidence from the 1994 and 1998 National Surveys," Center Discussion Papers 28388, Yale University, Economic Growth Center.
    14. Barrett, C. B. & Reardon, T. & Webb, P., 2001. "Nonfarm income diversification and household livelihood strategies in rural Africa: concepts, dynamics, and policy implications," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 315-331, August.
    15. Yoko Kijima & Tomoya Matsumoto & Takashi Yamano, 2006. "Nonfarm employment, agricultural shocks, and poverty dynamics: evidence from rural Uganda," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 35(s3), pages 459-467, November.
    16. Lisa A. Cameron & Christopher Worswick, 2003. "The Labor Market as a Smoothing Device: Labor Supply Responses to Crop Loss," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(2), pages 327-341, May.
    17. Ito, Takahiro & Kurosaki, Takashi, 2006. "Weather Risk and the Off-­Farm Labor Supply of Agricultural Households in India," 2006 Annual Meeting, August 12-18, 2006, Queensland, Australia 25774, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Thomas Yeboah & James Sumberg & Justin Flynn & Nana Akua Anyidoho, 2017. "Perspectives on Desirable Work: Findings from a Q Study with Students and Parents in Rural Ghana," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 29(2), pages 423-440, April.
    2. Muhammad Nauman Malik & Masood Sarwar Awan, 2016. "Analysing Econometric Bias and Non-linearity in Returns to Education of Pakistan," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 55(4), pages 837-851.
    3. Ousman Gajigo, 2016. "Closing the education gender gap: estimating the impact of girls' scholarship program in The Gambia," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(2), pages 167-188, April.
    4. Vito Peragine & Giorgia Zotti, 2024. "Assessing the extent, the evolution, and the sources of inequality of opportunity in Sierra Leone and The Gambia," SERIES 06-2024, Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza - Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro", revised Nov 2024.
    5. Ousman Gajigo, 2013. "Credit Constraints and Agricultural Risk for Non‐Farm Enterprises," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 25(4), pages 648-662, December.
    6. Ferdinand Ahiakpor & Raymond Swaray, 2015. "Parental expectations and school enrolment decisions: Evidence from rural Ghana," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(1), pages 132-142, February.
    7. Gordon Abekah‐Nkrumah & Patrick Opoku Asuming & Hadrat Yusif, 2022. "The impact of an additional year in high school on academic performance at university: Evidence from a policy experiment in Ghana," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 40(6), November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jeremy D. Foltz & Ousman Gajigo, 2012. "Working Paper 145 - Assessing the Returns to Education in the Gambia," Working Paper Series 376, African Development Bank.
    2. Tushar Agrawal, 2011. "Returns to education in India: Some recent evidence," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2011-017, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
    3. Uwaifo Oyelere, Ruth, 2008. "Understanding Low Average Returns to Education in Africa: The Role of Heterogeneity across Education Levels and the Importance of Political and Economic Reforms," IZA Discussion Papers 3766, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Uwaifo, Ruth, 2006. "Africa's Education Enigma? The Nigerian story," 2006 Annual meeting, July 23-26, Long Beach, CA 21254, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    5. Uwaifo Oyelere, Ruth, 2010. "Africa's education enigma? The Nigerian story," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 128-139, January.
    6. Angel de la Fuente & Antonio Ciccone, 2003. "Human capital in a global and knowledge-based economy," UFAE and IAE Working Papers 562.03, Unitat de Fonaments de l'Anàlisi Econòmica (UAB) and Institut d'Anàlisi Econòmica (CSIC).
    7. Monazza Aslam, 2006. "Rates of Return to Education by Gender in Pakistan," Economics Series Working Papers GPRG-WPS-064, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    8. Yamarik Steven J, 2008. "Estimating Returns to Schooling from State-Level Data: A Macro-Mincerian Approach," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 1-16, August.
    9. Geeta Kingdon & Nicolas Theopold, 2006. "Do returns to education matter to schooling participation?," Economics Series Working Papers GPRG-WPS-052, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    10. Geeta Gandhi Kingdon & Nicolas Theopold, 2008. "Do returns to education matter to schooling participation? Evidence from India," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(4), pages 329-350.
    11. Francis Teal, 2010. "Higher Education and Economic Development in Africa: a Review of Channels and Interactions," Economics Series Working Papers CSAE WPS/2010-25, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    12. Eric A. Hanushek & Ludger Woessmann, 2008. "The Role of Cognitive Skills in Economic Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 46(3), pages 607-668, September.
    13. Giuseppe Folloni & Giorgio Vittadini, 2010. "Human Capital Measurement: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 248-279, April.
    14. Lynn A. Karoly, 2010. "The Role of Education in Preparing Graduates for the Labor Market in the GCC Countries," Working Papers WR-742, RAND Corporation.
    15. Peet, Evan D. & Fink, Günther & Fawzi, Wafaie, 2015. "Returns to education in developing countries: Evidence from the living standards and measurement study surveys," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 69-90.
    16. repec:zna:indecs:v:19:y:2021:i:4:p:189-209 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Günther Fink & Evan Peet, 2016. "Returns to Education in Low and Middle-Income Countries: Evidence from the Living Standards and Measurement Surveys," PGDA Working Papers 12014, Program on the Global Demography of Aging.
    18. Kristinn Hermannsson & Patrizio Lecca, 2016. "Human Capital in Economic Development: From Labour Productivity to Macroeconomic Impact," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 35(1), pages 24-36, March.
    19. Camilla Mastromarco & Léopold Simar, 2021. "Latent heterogeneity to evaluate the effect of human capital on world technology frontier," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 71-89, April.
    20. Mathias Kuepié & Christophe J. Nordman, 2016. "Where Does Education Pay Off in Sub-Saharan Africa? Evidence from Two Cities of the Republic of Congo," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(1), pages 1-27, January.
    21. Bourguignon, Francois, 2005. "The Effect of Economic Growth on Social Structures," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 27, pages 1701-1747, Elsevier.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:jafrec:v:21:y:2012:i:4:p:580-608. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/csaoxuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.